1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to data communications between computer network and a plurality of wireless computing devices. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for notifying wireless computing devices about updated information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a rapidly growing communication network of interconnected computers around the world. Together, these millions of connected computers form a vast repository of hyperlinked information that is readily accessible by any of the connected computers from anywhere at any time. To provide mobility and portability to the Internet, wireless computing devices have been introduced. The wireless computers are capable of communicating with the computers on the Internet using wireless data networks connected to the Internet. With wireless computers using wireless data networks, people are able to travel about and yet perform the same tasks they could do with computers directly connected to the Internet.
The most common wireless access paradigm of today is a laptop personal computer equipped with a wireless communication mechanism. For example, a laptop may be equipped with a wireless modem for communication with the Internet. This paradigm may be useful for a considerable number of applications and users, but there has been a growing need for a mobile paradigm in which the Internet can be instantly accessed by smaller mobile computing devices such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). With increasing data processing capabilities in the new smaller mobile computing devices, more and more users are carrying such devices around to convert unproductive time into productive time.
With a small wireless internet device, a traveler may request the departure time of a next available flight when on the way to an airport, or a trader may purchase shares of stock at a certain price. The pertinent information from these requests or transactions may include the airline and the flight number for the traveler, as well as the stock name, the number of shares and the price being purchased for the trader. To be timely and periodically informed, one way is to electronically communicate the information requests from a mobile device that is connected to a wireless data network. The wireless data network, for example, connects, through a proxy server, to a flight information server or stock quote server from which the desired flight information or the current stock price can be retrieved by the mobile device on demand.
In some situations, the traveler or the trader may be prefer to be informed of any changes or updates to information without requesting the updates. For example, the trader may wish to be informed when a stock price hits a pre-set preferred price. In such a situation, the trader could subscribe to a service that notifies him if certain defined situations occur. Thus, a xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d information delivery system that automatically distributes updates is needed for users of wireless computing devices.
There are many different types of wireless data networks for connecting wireless client devices to the internet. Each wireless data network type has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, circuit switched GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) wireless networks include a useful Short Messaging System (SMS) for sending short text messages to wireless clients. But the Short Messaging System is only useful for very short messages. Delivering larger messages requires the wireless client device to establish a circuit in a carrier infrastructure via a wideband channel before communicating with any server on the network. Establishing the circuit connection can be both time consuming and costly to the users. Hence users generally prefer to have control over the communication of their mobile devices through the carrier infrastructure when accessing updated information from a web server. Other wireless networks, such as CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) wireless networks, are packet switched networks. CDPD wireless networks provide a signaling mechanism that allows a signal to be sent when new information is available. However, no data is transmitted with the signaling mechanism.
Since a xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d system of information delivery is needed for users of wireless devices and there are several different types of a wireless networks, a unified push delivery mechanism would be desirable. A unified push information delivery system would allow internet hosts to push information to users of all types of wireless networks.